These movements include Transition Towns, which arose from the work of Rob Hopkins. In Transition Towns, people living in an already established area bond together to make their communities more ecologically and humanly friendly while diminishing the need for fossil fuels. These programs often utilize gardening styles such as permaculture to help people become more self-sufficient. They also are more apt to use a consensus type of decision making which engages the whole community rather than just a few "key players".
Another movement entails the development and planning of ecovillages, which are often referred to as intentional communities. The Fellowship for Intentional Communities introduces their work as follows:
We believe that intentional communities are pioneers in sustainable living, personal and cultural transformation, and peaceful social evolution. "Intentional communities" include ecovillages, cohousing, residential land trusts, income-sharing communes, student co-ops, spiritual communities, and other projects where people live together on the basis of explicit common values.
One such ecovillage is Tamera.
Tamera is a deep ecology and spiritually oriented community. It is an offshoot of the German ZEGG movement founders who are now reviving a desert area of Portugal through Permaculture design. Permaculture is a way of working with the land that uses Nature's process of relationship to help unfold a healthy garden that kindle a self-sufficient lifestyle. It also helps utilize more natural techniques that then lead to a healthier ecology and a healthier planet.
There are 200 residents composing Tamera who work together to model a non-violent existence among people and between people and Nature. It could be said that Tamera focuses on the relationship of people to Nature and Nature to people. In my personal interpretation, the more one works with Nature there ultimately becomes no real distinction between human beings and Nature. Human beings are cells of Nature and are Nature. Indeed, I would argue that the process in which a fetus unfolds from an egg into us is the same process that the Earth evolved a living system that includes all of us.
Perhaps our true modern day ailment is alienation from the Self, from our Nature?
According to the Tamera website:
The project was founded in Germany in 1978. In 1995 it moved to Portugal. Today 170 people live and work on a property of 330 acres.
The founding thought was to develop a non-violent life model for cooperation between human being, animal and nature. Soon it became clear that the healing of love and of human community had to be placed at the center of this work. Sexuality, love and partnership need to be freed from lying and fear, for there can be no peace on Earth as long as there is war in love. The ecological and technological research of Tamera includes the implementation of a retention landscape for the healing of water and nature, as well as a model for regional autonomy in energy and food. Through the Global Campus and the Terra Nova School we are working within a global network on the social, ecological and ethical foundations for a new Earth -- Terra Nova.
Merry and Burl Hall interviewed two residents of Tamera for Envision This, Leila Dregger and Martin Winieiki, They stated that the goal for Tamera is to become an acupuncture point of peace, a greenhouse of trust, a prototype for an existence free of fear on this planet, a post-capitalist societal model and a place where the human and meta realm of life come together. (Wow, I want to move there!)
During the interview, they spoke often about socialism and communism. When one takes the terms social-ism and commun-ism in relation to our conditioned minds, one may be filled with angst. Yes, we could envision the likes of China and the USSR. These are more about "meet the new boss, same as the old boss," ultimately.
At this point in human history, it may be that we need to move beyond "isms" and into more organic lifestyles. At this level, could social and community engagement be words for something deeper than just another method to control populations and increase power for the elite, be they in the form of revolutionaries or corporate heads? Could we grow new sprouts from these words whose roots lie in society and community? Can we develop a resilient and equitable system of belonging to our communities and serving the common interests of our society?
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